Articles
Groups: Wyoming Range bill would not limit energy effort
2008-07-15 Two seperate reports in Washington, D.C. seem to confirm Gov. Dave Freudenthal's assertion that protecting the Wyoming Range from further energy development would have a 'neglible' impact on gas production, state officials and a sportsmen's organization said Tuesday.
(Casper Star Tribune)
Governor Seeks Drilling Plan Delay
2008-02-08 Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday to delay acting on a proposal to drill for natural gas in the Wyoming Range, a popular hunting and recreation area within the Bridger-Teton National Forest. "In a historical context, such a proposal is quite modest," Freudenthal said in a letter to the Forest Service. "In the Wyoming Range, this proposal is monumental, far reaching and fraught with controversy."
(Associated Press)
Forest Service could quash leases
2008-02-07 The U.S. Forest Service could quash contested oil and gas leases in the Wyoming Range, if an updated environmental analysis differs from its 18-year-old predecessor.
(Casper Star Tribune)
Residents Rip PXP Proposal
2008-02-06 U.S. Forest Service (USFS) officials received harsh blows last week at the public meeting on Plains Exploration and Production’s (PXP) proposal for full-field development on USFS lands on the Hoback Rim.
(Pinedale Roundup)
Will the 'Domino' Fall?
2008-02-05 A diverse and ostensibly powerful alliance of organizations and elected officials has been opposing new oil and gas drilling projects in the Wyoming Range for about three years. It's unclear what the campaign has yielded, if anything. Those who have joined to protect the mountain range in the western part of the state are an eclectic group of people and organizations, including Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, the Wilderness Society, the National Outdoor Leadership School, miners, ranchers, outfitters, hunters and even some gas patch workers.
(Casper Star Tribune)
Does State have a Say?
2008-02-05 When it comes to energy development in the Wyoming Range, do residents of the Equality State have a say in the matter? At least one cattle rancher in Daniel is beginning to wonder. If the federal government sells oil and gas leases in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, could Wyoming residents -- even if a majority agree they don't want drilling there -- do anything at all to stop it?
(Casper Star Tribune)
Another Company Proposes Drilling in Wyoming Range
2008-01-31 Just days after Bridger-Teton National Forest officials announced the start of a new environmental analysis for 44,700 acres in the Wyoming Range, an energy company has proposed a plan to drill on part of the contested land. Officials with Stanley Energy of Denver have proposed 181 wells on roughly 29,000 acres west of Merna in the Horse Creek and Beaver Creek drainages. The company would exchange current leases for permission to drill on more than 20,000 of the 44,700 contested acres. The proposal would involve eight 50-acre well pads for a total surface disturbance of 400 acres.
(Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Hoback Well Process Frustrates Opponents
2008-01-30 A proposal to drill 136 gas wells on the Hoback Rim in the Wyoming Range drew criticism and frustration from the public Monday.
Several dozen people drove through strong winds and blinding snow for an open house at the Virginian Lodge in Jackson. People hung posters inside the conference room to protest the plan as they listened to Big Piney district ranger Greg Clark discuss the project. Representatives from Plains Exploration & Production Co. were also present. Bureau of Land Management officials were scheduled to attend but didn’t make the trip because of the weather.
(Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Agency Responds to Gas Lease Ruling
2008-01-29 The status of 44,700 acres of Wyoming Range land originally leased for energy development in 2005 and 2006 has been in question for more than a year, but that could soon change. For the first time in many months, there was an indication Monday that there will be movement in the coming weeks toward some kind of a resolution on the oil and gas leases in question.
(Casper Star Tribune)
Hoback Wells Would Drill in Roadless Area
2007-12-19 Conservation groups say 17 well pads proposed for the Hoback Rim would put miles of new roads in one of the Bridger-Teton’s largest roadless areas, which also serves as important habitat for birthing ungulates and other animals. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Freudenthal repeats protests of Hoback Wells
2007-12-11 Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said he remains opposed to a plan to drill gas wells in Bridger-Teton National Forest near the Hoback Ranches subdivision. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
136 Wells Planned in Hoback Gas Field
2007-12-08 U.S. Forest Service officials will begin considering a request to drill over a hundred gas wells near the Hoback Ranches subdivision as soon as Monday, according to conservation groups. A notice of intent from the Forest Service outlines a plan by Plains Exploration & Production Company to construct 136 wells on 17 well pads on part of over 20,000 acres that the company has leased on the Hoback Rim adjacent to the Wyoming Range. The preliminary plan would impact about 400 acres and also calls for the construction of 15 miles of new roads and upgrading 14 miles of existing roads. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Bill Protects Wyoming Range
2007-10-26 U.S. Sen. John Barrasso on Thursday introduced long-anticipated legislation that would put 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range off-limits to any new energy development and allow existing leases there to be retired. "Today is Wyoming's day, literally," the Republican said in a speech on the Senate floor. "It's a long-awaited day -- a day that is special, a day that is as special as the mountain range that this day centers on." (Casper Star Tribune)
Gov: Cancel Wyoming Range Leases
2007-10-18 Gov. Dave Freudenthal is leaning on federal cabinet officials to cancel suspended energy leases issued in the Wyoming Range and offer a refund to companies. Freudenthal wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, saying the area is important to Wyoming and should be protected. (Casper Star Tribune)
Homeowners wary of Gas Company Request
2007-06-20 Residents and property owners in Hoback Ranches say an energy company's request to stop an environmental review for three wildcat wells near their homes in the northern Wyoming Range could lead to more unwanted energy development.
(Jackson Hole News and Guide)
At a crossroads:Energy Push in Wildlife Country
2007-06-13 Near a monument to the historic Astorian exploration party and below the Hoback Rim, pronghorn hunker down into the sagebrush off Wyoming artist Tucker Smith’s driveway. Here the Astorians, Smith says, stopped on their way to Oregon and hunted along the Indian trails. The Indians followed game migration routes up through the rim. Major mule deer, elk and pronghorn wildlife corridors, crucial moose habitat, three elk feed grounds, and four sage grouse leks are close by.
(Jackson Hole News and Guide)
'We should finish it out'
2007-06-07 Gov. Dave Freudenthal encouraged the remaining members of Wyoming's congressional delegation to carry on Sen. Craig Thomas' effort to protect the Wyoming Range from further oil and gas leasing. Thomas had been expected to introduce a bill to limit oil and gas drilling in the Wyoming Range, but he died June 4amid treatment for leukemia. Freudenthal said it's entirely appropriate that U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep. Barbara Cubin, both Republicans, pick up the Wyoming Range legislation in Thomas' memory. "He started it, and I think we should finish it out," Freudenthal said. (Casper Star Tribune)
Protect the Wyoming Range?
2007-05-25 U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas' office is working on legislation that would halt oil and gas leasing in the Wyoming Range, reports the Casper Star-Triubune. Such legislation would be a step toward the voluntary of retirement of some of the 150,000 acres of existing leases here. The bill is still in draft form, and the senator is speaking with many stakeholders to discuss the bill's particulars. Thomas says he feels strongly about respecting private property and leaseholder rights in the area. (Casper Star Tribune)
Public: No gas rigs at Hoback Ranches
2007-05-09 Members of the public and state officials overwhelmingly disapprove of a plan to drill exploratory gas wells near Hoback Ranches, according to comments submitted to the U.S. Forest Service. The Bridger-Teton National Forest has received about 19,000 comments from across the country, almost all of which oppose drilling in the upper Hoback drainage of the Wyoming Range. (Jackson Hole News & Guide)
Wells a sure thing?
2007-05-07 Bridger-Teton National Forest officials say the development of one to three gas wells near Hoback Ranches is likely inevitable, despite overwhelming public opposition. More than 19,000 people submitted comments, almost all opposing development in the north end of the Wyoming Range. Big Piney District Ranger Greg Clark said the U.S. Forest Service had an obligation to grant energy company Plains Exploration & Production Co. permission to drill the wells once it purchased a lease on the land 10 years ago. (Jackson Hole News & Guide)
Report: Drilling squeezes hunters, habitat
2007-05-02 Loss of wildlife habitat and fewer places for sportsmen to hunt in the West are blamed in a new report on Bush administration energy policies that spurred a boom in oil and gas drilling. Drilling on federal wildlife habitat in five Western states doubled over the last decade, to more than 2,000 wells per year, almost 900 in Wyoming, according to the report by the Environmental Working Group and the National Wildlife Federation. (Associated Press)
Wyoming Gov. warns of 'domino effect'
2007-05-01 Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he "doubts the veracity" of a Texas energy company's claim that it intends to drill just three exploratory wells in the Wyoming Range. In comments filed with the U.S. Forest Service, Freudenthal says he's concerned that allowing an initial exploratory drilling project in the upper Hoback could be the "first domino" toward industrialization of Bridger-Teton National Forest, something he called "Jonah in the woods."'Drilled full of holes?' (Associated Press)
Hoback Gas Well Plan Raises Public Hackles
2007-04-27 Public comments so far have overwhelmingly panned a proposal to drill one to three exploratory gas wells on Bridger-Teton National Forest near the Hoback Ranches housing development, according to officials. That includes the Wyoming Travel and Tourism Board, which also spoke against the plan in a comment dated April 15. This is the first time the state tourism board has come out against an energy-development project, its chairman said. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
'Drilled full of holes'
2007-04-23 BONDURANT -- Phyllis Boye has one of the best views in Wyoming. Perched atop a ridge, where she has lived since 1980, Boye, nearly 80, can look out to 30 head of deer in her yard in the morning, or the majesty of the Wyoming Range in the near distance. "I just love everything about it," Boye (pronounced Boy-ay), said. "I love the scenery, I love the animals up there. Basically I really love Wyoming and I hate to see it drilled full of holes." It is her neighborhood around the Hoback Ranches that's now being eyed for energy development. It's a new wrinkle in the ongoing push and pull between land managers who are processing more and more drilling permits in areas more and more sensitive to wildlife -- and now, in Hoback Ranches -- to people. (Casper Star Tribune)
'Beginning of the end?'
2007-03-09 Oil and gas development in the Bridger-Teton National Forest's 400,000-acre Wyoming Range has been a hot-button issue in the state in recent years, pitting recreationists and conservationists against oil and gas interests. Conservationists have filed protests and appeals against several oil and gas leases in the scenic mountain range. (Casper Star Tribune)
Drilling plan spotlights conflict
2007-03-02 A small exploratory drilling project proposed for the Wyoming Range in north Sublette County is spotlighting the conflict between energy development and preservation in western Wyoming. Conservationists and others say oil and gas development doesn't belong within the Bridger-Teton National Forest's Wyoming Range. They view the project as a first step toward drilling throughout Wyoming's namesake mountains. "If they drill these wells, it'll be the beginning of the end for the Wyoming Range," said Dan Smitherman, who is an outfitter with Hoback Peak Outfitters. (Casper Star Tribune)
Chamber opposes oil, gas development
2007-03-02 Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has gone on record opposing oil and gas development in Bridger-Teton National Forest, which includes the Wyoming Range. The chamber, which represents 916 local and regional organizations sent a letter to forest Supervisor Kniffy Hamilton stating that energy development would hurt recreational use of public land, a key part of the regional economy. The forest's unparalleled natural beauty is a key component of the region's tourism industry, which provides almost a quarter of regional jobs, accounts for $163 million in business earnings and $15 million in sales-tax distributions, according to the letter. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Gov. pushes buyout of Wyoming Range leases
2007-01-31 Gov. Dave Freudenthal urged a buyback of both state and federal mineral leases in the Wyoming Range at a Jan. 29 reception. "We need to ban further leasing and if we really want to protect it, we need to get federal legislation and there needs to be a buyback," he told the crowd gathered to honor the launch of Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Out to save the Wyoming Range
2007-01-30
Charlie Meyers, Denver Post columnist: For those of us who live 500 miles and one large desert away, the Wyoming Range is a world apart, a place of mystery and intrigue. A coalition of outdoor enthusiasts want to change that through a campaign to bring this remote location along the western rim of Wyoming keenly into public focus. The aim of Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range is to save it from a fate that has carved large parts of the state, indeed the West, into a labyrinth of oil and gas roads and pipelines. The rationale is simple enough: "There's a realization that Wyoming already is carrying a considerable weight for energy production," said Tom Reed, the state's field coordinator for the conservation organization Trout Unlimited. (Denver Post)
Sportsmen unite for the Wyoming Range
2007-01-25 A coalition of hunter, angler and sporting organizations -- 13 in all -- launched a statewide effort this week to help preserve the Wyoming Range from oil and gas development. The group, Sportsmen for the Wyoming Range, unveiled its new Web site with an agressive billboard campaign. (Casper Star-Tribune)
Residents: Curb gas drilling
2006-12-06 Community members asked Forest Service personnel to protect the Bridger-Teton National Forest from motorized recreation and oil and gas drilling in dozens of comments that raise concerns over wildlife and air quality. A revised Forest Plan, due out in September 2008, will guide new land management decisions on issues such as oil and gas development and recreation. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
2006-11-30 Gas Money: Besieged by natural-gas exploration, a Wyoming town draws the line
Writing in Grist, Pinedale native and one-time Jonah roughneck Brian Calvert ponders the fate of the Wyoming Range, which could one day be overrun with drill rigs, pipelines and roads.
2006-10-04 Beneath the soil, the Wyoming Range also holds high-quality oil and natural gas deposits, and during the past year, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have leased about 40,000 acres here for development as an energy field. Four of those leases would put oil rigs within a mile of Child’s camp, a move he says would ruin his outfitter business. Child has joined a coalition of outfitters and sportsmen working to preserve their hunting ground. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Feds hold up oil, gas leases in Wyo Range
2006-09-23 A federal review board has temporarily halted energy development on 20,000 acres in the Wyoming Range, siding with conservation and sportsmen who said energy leases there were sold with insufficient review. The Interior Board of Land Appeals granted a stay on leases the Bureau of Land Management had sold in the mountains 40 miles south of Jackson. A number of conservation groups and a coalition of outfitters requested the stay to postpone oil and gas drilling while the board considers their appeal of leases sold to energy companies in April. The groups have also filed protests on other leases that BLM sold in June and August covering roughly 23,000 acres in the area.
Conservationists called the stay good news, but said the decision is far from a victory."There will be time for more analysis given to the impacts to mule deer, trout, endangered species, and air quality," said Wyoming Outdoor Council attorney Lisa McGee. "It can take several years to get a decision. Our hope is that this will then set a precedent, so that the June and August leases are not issued." (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Conservationists see omen in broken vows
2006-9-20 A BLM document outlining unfulfilled environmental commitments at gas fields near Pinedale has conservationists worried about the implications for energy development in the Wyoming Range. The document outlines a number of measures the BLM failed to accomplish, mostly concerned with monitoring air quality, water quality and wildlife impacts. Conservation groups say these failures don't bode well for the Wyoming Range, where the Forest Service has already failed to mitigate impacts from existing development. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
New group to fight Wyoming Range drilling
2006-07-19 A citizens' group aimed at protecting the Wyomign Range has sprung out of a consortium of local outfitters. "As the word has gotten out, we have gotten more and more support," said Daniel oufitter Gary Amerine, a founding leader of Citizens Protecting the Wyoming Range, estimating that the group had about 120 members from Big Piney, Pinedale and Jackson. (Jackson Hole News and Guide)
Feds halt energy lease
2006-07-12 Energy development on one parcel in the Wyoming Range was ordered to be halted after a federal agency determined an appeal of the lease had merit and deserved closer study. The Interior Board of Land Appeals said three conservation groups have demonstrated "a liklihood of success" of their appeal, and a "stay," or halting, of development is warranted "until this appeal can be addressed on the merits." (Casper Star Tribune).
Governor raps Wyoming Range leases
2006-06-01 Joining conservationists and labor representatives, Gov. Dave Freudenthal asked federal officials to halt the June 6 oil and gas lease sale of 13 parcels in the Wyoming Range. In a letter to federal land managers, Freudenthal said officials should also consider taking back other leases recently sold in the range because of is incredible natural values and importance to recreation and tourism.
Labor protests oil, gas lease
2006-05-24 Green River resident Mike Burd labors in the soda ash plants west of Green River, but on his days off, he spends most of his time hunting and fishing in the Wyoming Range in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Burd and other Wyoming labor leaders say parts of the range should be off limits to energy leasing. (Casper Star Tribune)
Sportsmen fight for Wyoming habitats
2006-04-20 Gordon Johnston's biography doesn't exactly shout "environmentalist." The 74-year-old Daniel resident spent 21 years in the Marine Corps. He has been an avid hunter most of his life. Asked his party affiliation, the former Sublette Couny commissioner replies, "Hard-core, hard-ass Republican." Yet when it comes to Bush Administration proposals to lease areas of the Shoshone and Bridger-Teton national forests for oil and gas development, Johnston behaves like a dues-paying member of the Sierra Club. (USA Today)
The Wyoming Range: Is Jonah the model?
2006-04-19 As the Bridger-Teton National Forest leases thousands of acres in the Wyoming Range for energy development, residents wonder what fate awaits that pristine range of undulating hills and forests. For many, the answer lies a few miles away in the Jonah Field, where federal authorities recently approved an infil drilling project, authorizing 3,597 wells across 30,500 acres of high-altitude sagebrush.
Gov, forests reach roadless accord
2006-03-24 In an apparent effort to protect roadless areas, Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the U.S. Forest Service have agreed not to approve any new oil and gas and mineral leases in roadless areas in the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests until their forest plans are revised.
Groups protest oil, gas leasing
2006-03-21 In what is likely the start of a series of protests, Trout Unlimited and the National Outdoor Leadership School -- along with some outfitters and guides --are contesting the oil and gas lease sale of parcels in the Wyoming Range. The lease sale, set for April 4, is for 11 separate parcels that total nearly 20,000 acres in the Upper Green River drainage west of Merna in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. (Casper Star Tribune)
Homeowners fight drilling plan
2005-12-21 Hoback Ranches residents battle BLM move to permit exploratory gas wells in the northern Wyoming Ranch.
Drilling in the Wyoming Range?
2005-12-04 Conservationists say a BLM oil and gas lease sale to auction a 1,280-acre parcel in the foothills of the Wyoming Range will likely jump-start drilling on other suspended leases in the area.